The Sorting Hat's Choice
by Call it Maglc
Summary: The Sorting Hat was faced with a choice: The choice between happiness for all and the end of the world, or happiness for some and a free world. Short one shot, hinted Sev/Lily. The Sorting Hat's thoughts on Severus's head.


As soon as the Sorting Hat was placed on the boy's head, it knew that it would have to make the toughest choice it had ever made in it's endless life. Everything about the boy went into the Sorting Hat's mind, and it hesitated for a moment, thinking. His name was Severus Snape, a lonely boy from a bad home. Half-blood, with just one friend in the world, a girl named Lily Evans. The Sorting Hat had just sorted Lily into Gryffindor fifteen minutes ago, and he remembered how excited she was. She didn't ask to be put into anything, just to sort her where it thought her best. Gryffindor. She was brave, and also very polite, which didn't usually come with bravery.

He seemed like a normal little boy with greasy hair and a wish, to be sorted with his best friend. But the Sorting Hat saw more, it saw that Severus wanted to be more than Lily's friend, that he loved her with all his heart. Of course, the Sorting Hat was no great romancer, but he could see how pure and genuine the boy's feelings were. The Sorting Hat was just about to say Gryffindor when he suddenly stopped. Where this boy was sorted would change the future, he could tell. So the Sorting Hat thought, considering his options.

Hufflepuff? Oh, heavens no, this boy would never do there. He was not cheerful and kind to everyone, and would stick out like a sore thumb.

Ravenclaw? The boy was certainly intelligent, but he doubted that he would fit in here either. It seemed to the Sorting Hat that he was clever enough, but in all the wrong ways. The boy would be good with magic, specifically working with the Dark Arts. A Ravenclaw who could do that would certainly not be acceptable.

Gryffindor? It seemed the obvious choice for the boy, but the Sorting Hat thought. If he would be good with defence against the Dark Arts, wouldn't he barely be accepted there? But he was pleading in his head, _Please, please, please let me be in Gryffindor! Please let me be with Lily Evans! _The Sorting Hat had to dig deeper and think. It saw what would happen if he placed this boy in Gryffindor. It saw the years fly by. Severus being tormented by a boy, James Potter, whom the Sorting Hat had already sorted into Gryffindor, and his friends. It saw Lily come to his rescue and scold the boys. The Sorting Hat saw it happen many times over the years, and saw the two come to despise the boy and his group. It saw the two of them together, dancing at the Yule Ball, and saw their first kiss. It saw their wedding day, and saw the happiness that came from it all, a couple with twins, sending their children off to Hogwarts to start the process again, and all the joy.

But the Sorting Hat saw more. It saw a dark wizard, an unnamed variable in the problem. It saw the dark wizard destroying, killing, it was unstoppable. It brought the end of the world as people knew it, and only the "loyal" wizards were spared. The Sorting Hat saw so many good wizards die, including that of Severus Snape and his wife, Lily. It saw their children go into hiding, and the fear and tears that followed. Humans were forced into labor, and no one could overthrow the immortal dark wizard.

So the Sorting Hat thought once more, to the last option. Slytherin? The boy was certainly going to be good with the Dark Arts, and seemed to fit right in with his sad and slightly depressed nature. He would be unhappy with it though, the Sorting Hat could tell. So the Sorting Hat looked into the future once more. It saw the boy getting tormented once again by Potter and his friends, but didn't see Lily coming to his rescue. It saw James and Lily dancing at the Yule Ball, and Severus leaning on the wall, staring blankly at them. It saw them be wedded, and start happily raising a family, the birth of a baby boy. But sadness followed this path as well, for the same dark wizard was at large. The couple entrusted a secret, and were betrayed. They were killed by the wizard, but the baby boy was spared, leaving only a lightning bolt mark, and a piece of the dark wizard inside him.

Then the Sorting Hat stopped. It saw the remains of the Potter home, ceiling and walls and bodies littering the floor, the baby boy screeching. It saw a pair of black shoes running up the stairs, and into the scene, glass shattering under the feet. It saw the man cry out, and rush to the body of Lily, cradling it. It was the boy, the very head upon which the Sorting Hat sat. Severus wept over the dead body of the woman he had loved ever since they were children, with feelings not returned.

Then the future zoomed forward. The boy, now a man, was a teacher here at Hogwarts. The son of James and Lily was there too, and the dark wizard was after him. After seven years, the boy would defeat the dark wizard, but with the price of many lives, including that of the boy Severus. But Severus would have to act, would have to be a double agent. He would do it, all in the name of his love. A brutal and painful death, and a sad life to follow, that is what Slytherin brought.

The Sorting Hat was faced with a choice: The choice between happiness for all and the end of the world, or happiness for some and a free world. It was quite possibly the hardest choice the Sorting Hat ever had to make in it's long life. The Sorting Hat was wise, but maybe too wise for it's own good.

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><p>Severus nervously ran up, giddy with fear as the Sorting Hat was placed on his head. He closed his eyes and wished with all his might. <em>Please, please, please let me be in Gryffindor! Please let me be with Lily Evans!<em> he repeated over and over. The Sorting Hat spoke to him five seconds after it was placed on his head.

"I'm sorry," it said to him, almost unwillingly, then yelled out in it's booming voice. "SLYTHERIN!" Severus's smile faded completely and he looked over at the Gryffindor table, where Lily sat with a shocked and sorry face. She gave Severus a small, sad smile and meekly clapped. Severus tried his best to smile back, but with a sunken heart walked to the Slytherin table, where he was greeted with a punch in the shoulder. He rubbed his shoulder and looked back at Lily, who was fighting with that Potter boy about something and wondered what he could've done wrong.

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><p>The Sorting Hat knew it was for the best, but for the rest of his long, old life, he always felt his attention being drawn back to that one boy who might have been happy, at the cost of the whole world.<p>

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><p><strong><em>First Harry Potter story, and more or less my only one, probably. But anyways, I read the books a while back, but seeing Snape's memories just crushed my heart. I WAS crying when he was cradling Lily in his arms when she died. I got a little plot bunny for this, so I wrote it quickly. Sorry it' so short and not very good! :P<em>**

**_Best Wishes,_**

**_Aktress. _**


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